Kiera Hudson & The Man Who Loved Snow Read online

  “How do I know I can believe what you’re telling me?” Annora said. “Why should I go with you when I don’t even know you?”

  “Suit yourself,” Potter grunted, flicking away the smouldering end of his cigarette where it fizzled out in a puddle. He rolled back his shoulders, spreading his wings wide behind him. “You can stand out here in the dark and the rain all night for all I care, but I’m heading back to someplace dry.”

  Again, Kiera sensed Annora’s apprehension. She not only felt it, but understood it, too. She wished that Potter didn’t always have to be so hard-nosed and difficult. He wasn’t making the situation any easier for Annora or himself. They needed Annora as much as she needed them. Annora just didn’t realise it yet. Kiera peered at the girl as she sheltered beneath the umbrella. Kiera could see that the dome-shaped fabric was made of Vampyrus wings and the shiny point, which jutted from the top, was made of silver from The Hollows. Although Kiera didn’t know how Annora had come by it, she could only suspect that Noah had given it to her.

  Squeezing Annora’s shoulder in another attempt to ease her nerves and apprehension, Kiera smiled again and said, “I know you don’t know either of us. I totally understand that and I wouldn’t expect anything else. But I’m asking you, for the sake of our son, the man who loves you, to come with us and listen to what we have to tell you.”

  “But I don’t ever remember loving your son, Karl,” Annora said with a bewildering shake of her head.

  “There is so much that you don’t remember,” Kiera said, her voice soft and caring. “Wouldn’t you like to remember? Wouldn’t you like to know why you’re really here and what part you play in all of this?”

  “Noah told me that I was once partnered with your son,” Annora said, her eyes searching Kiera’s for some kind of acknowledgement that what she was saying was true. “He said that I was some kind of cop… a Temporal Officer is what I think Noah called them. He said that I’d come into the future to fight werewolves and vampires… to prevent some kind of war. But how could that be possible? I’m not a fighter and I don’t know anything about werewolves and vampires, that’s for sure.”

  “Werewolves and vampires are the least of your worries,” Potter cut in. His feet hovered a foot above the ground, wings beating feverishly behind him as if eager to fly away.

  Again, Kiera shot Potter another damning look. This didn’t go unnoticed by Annora.

  The young woman sheltering beneath the umbrella looked at Potter and said, “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Potter shot her a knowing grin. “If you’re having problems believing in werewolves and vampires, wait until you meet the witches, wizards, and—”

  “That’s enough, Potter,” Kiera snapped at him.

  “She’s got to know the truth at some point,” Potter said.

  “But not right now, not right here,” Kiera said, narrowing her eyes at him as if he was in some breach of the plan that they had already agreed between them.

  “So when will you tell me the truth, whatever that might be?” Annora asked.

  Kiera looked once more at her. “Come with us and we will tell you everything.”

  Annora took a deep breath. She didn’t know whether she was doing the right thing or not by going with Kiera and Potter, but what other choice did she have? So she said, “Okay, I’ll come with you.”

  “At last,” Potter sighed, sweeping toward her, arms open.

  Annora took a step backwards and brandished the open umbrella once more. The pointed silver tip twinkled in the pale moonlight that bled through the rain.

  “Be careful with that thing,” Potter growled at her. “You nearly took my fucking eye out!”

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Kiera said, taking a step toward Annora, her arms open, palms splayed as if to suggest that the young woman had nothing to fear. “Where we are heading is too far to walk, so Potter will carry you, that’s all.”

  Annora looked at Potter with some disdain, then back at Kiera. “I would rather travel with you. Can’t you carry me?”

  Kiera smiled. “Of course I can.”

  Putting her trust in Kiera Hudson, Annora closed the umbrella, although she continued to grip it tightly in her fists. With wings beating behind her, Kiera placed one arm around Annora’s waist.

  Kiera winked at her. “Ready?”

  “I guess,” Annora said, remembering how Noah had swooped her up into his arms before smashing through the window at the house where she had rented a room in the town of Rock Shore.

  Annora heard a ripping sound, as if the very fabric of reality was being torn in half. She looked to see Potter tear up into the night sky, an ear-shattering thunderclap booming in his wake. Then, feeling as if her stomach had dropped into her boots, Annora found herself hurtling up into the darkness and rain, Kiera’s arms tight about her.

  Chapter Five

  The year 2067

  Karl followed Selina through a warren of corridors and passageways. The walls on either side of him were a dull grey. The florescent lighting that snaked along the ceilings above did little to brighten them. Karl got the feeling that he was navigating the corridors of some ancient asylum rather than a working Temporal Station. The Temporal Office where he had been stationed back in London City had looked clean and pristine. It had been a towering monument of steel and glass. And as he followed Selina in silence, he thought it was strange that he could clearly remember so much of his past life in London and the work he did there, yet the one memory he wanted to cling to, was slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. He didn’t want to forget Annora Snow. She was one memory he wanted to hold onto. But with each passing hour, he thought that he remembered her less, despite the creepy Sex Bot that refused to shake off her image. Perhaps if the Bot at the Night Diner wasn’t so eerie, then he would have welcomed the sight of it so he could have a constant reminder of the young woman he didn’t doubt he had once loved. Still loved. But why did he find the Bot so unsettling? Not just because she had tried to warn him about the Night Diners and had given him a pocket-sized umbrella. Perhaps because the Bot looked too much like Annora. There was a difference from looking at a photograph of someone you didn’t want to forget, than to see a life-sized walking, talking replica. And that was perhaps what sent chills down Karl’s spine each time he saw the Bot. Despite it looking identical to Annora—even sounding like her—it wasn’t the girl he believed he had been in love with. The Bot wasn’t Officer Snow—the Temporal Officer he had been partnered with. The girl who had died in that car crash…

  “You’re going to be needing one of these,” someone said, breaking into his thoughts.

  “What?” Karl mumbled, shaking away thoughts of Annora.

  Selina had stopped by a bank of comlinks that had been attached to the corridor wall. Lights flashed green and red beneath the comlinks which sat in their metal housings. Selina snatched one from the charging bank before shoving it at Karl. “Go on, take it.”

  “Thanks,” Karl said, thoughts of Annora still at the forefront of his mind. He felt suddenly sick and dazed. At first, he feared that another bout of unconsciousness was about to hit, but there were no flashing lights before his eyes. He realised that what he was so suddenly experiencing was an overpowering sense of déjà vu. How many times had he walked to a comlink charging bank just like this one with Annora Snow before heading out on patrol together? Hundreds of times, perhaps? How long had they worked together? He couldn’t remember. Long enough for them to have formed a relationship. Enough time for him to have fallen in love with Officer Snow. But had she loved him? Why then had she been screaming his name as their patrol car had spun out of control?

  “You really need to get your shit together,” Selina said, her sarcastic tone seeping into the corners of his mind.

  Karl looked at her. He glanced down at the comlink she held in her pale hand and was now offering to him. But it could have easily been Annora who was handing him the comlink, like she had done so many times befo
re.

  “I just need a moment,” Karl said, placing one hand to his mouth, fighting the urge to vomit. His legs felt weak at the knees.

  “A moment to do what?” Selina asked.

  “Vomit,” Karl groaned.

  “Oh, Christ,” Selina sighed, spinning him around to face a door set into the wall. “The men’s toilets are in there.” She shoved him hard in the back with her free hand as if wanting to put as much distance between herself and him before he vomited.

  Karl stumbled forward, shoulder-barging the door open. He headed past the urinals jutting from the wall and into the nearest cubicle. On his knees, he lifted the toilet seat. The contents of his stomach hosed from his mouth. The walls of the narrow cubicle felt as if they were closing in on him. He wiped his mouth with the back of one hand and flushed the toilet. He watched what looked like pebble-dashed cement swirl away.

  “What the fuck,” he groaned, pulling himself up onto his feet. With thoughts and images of Annora Snow swimming and seesawing through his mind, Karl staggered to the nearest wash basin. If he had feared that he was going to forget all about her, he now wasn’t so sure. Not since waking from his eleven-month exile in a coma had memories of Annora been so vivid and overpowering. What had happened so suddenly to make her come to the forefront of his mind so violently? It was as if she was close by. Like she had followed him to Outpost 71. But that would be impossible, wouldn’t it? Annora Snow was dead. They had been in a car crash together. He had seen her screaming, staring back at him from behind what looked like cracks. Cracks in a sheet of broken glass? Or something else?

  Karl looked into the mirror that hung above the wash basin. His hazel eyes looked brighter than ever, like there was some kind of fever burning deep inside of him. But not only did his eyes look brighter in the glare of the overhead strip lighting, but the blue streaks in his hair looked almost neon. And then, as if someone had flipped a switch inside of him, his mind was no longer consumed of thoughts of Annora Snow, but had been replaced with memories of Kiera Hudson, his mother. With his eyes bright, and his dark-black hair now looking almost navy blue, he couldn’t help but now see more than just a passing resemblance between them as he stared at his reflection. The likeness was uncanny. His skin looked paler somehow, as if all the colour had been bleached out of it by the bright lights overhead. Karl’s skin felt clammy, so he reached for the cold tap. He released a frothing stream of ice cold water into the basin. Cupping his hands, he splashed some of the water onto his face. As beads of water dripped from the tip of his nose, he had the unmistakable feeling that it wasn’t only Annora’s presence he could feel close by, but that of his mother, too.

  But Annora, his mother, and his father all had something in common: They were all dead.

  Chapter Six

  The year 1985

  Carol stood at the end of the alleyway and watched Jake Stranger face down the three men. The sound of the rain thrumming all around her drowned out much of what was being said. But the voices of the three hulking men echoed off the alleyway walls and she caught snippets of what was being said.

  “Get out of our way, fuck-head,” one of the men growled at Jake.

  Carol knew the man well. He was her supplier, and his name was Ted-the-Shed. He was named so by the local addicts, as he was happy to shed the drugs but equally as happy to shed the pain when those drugs went unpaid for. Unfortunately for Carol, Ted had recently shed her some tiny little wraps of brown powder and she had yet to settle her account. She knew that Ted was more than happy for her to settle her account with him by means of payment other than cash. And it was that which terrified her.

  Through the rain, Carol watched Jake stand his ground in front of the three knuckleheads. She wanted to call him back. Tell him to run. She knew how dangerous Ted and his sidekicks could be. She had seen them cut many a man and woman who got in their way or crossed them. It was because Carol knew how dangerous they were, she’d wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible. Carol knew she would need to keep her distance from Ted-the-Shed until she somehow found the money to settle her debt. And then, he might still take her as partial payment.

  But to her surprise, Jake didn’t back down or flinch away from Ted and his men. And over the sound of Ted’s booming voice, Carol thought she heard Jake speak. His voice was quieter, softer, and she couldn’t hear what it was he was saying. She saw Ted strike out at Jake, punching him hard in the chest. But despite Jake being shorter and smaller in build, he didn’t rock back on his feet, or flinch away. It was like Jake had somehow absorbed the strength of Ted’s punch. Then, twisting at his waist to the left, the coattails of his long black coat flapping all around him like wings, Jake dodged another one of Ted’s punches.

  Then, to Carol’s surprise, and that of Ted and his accomplices, Jake took his hat from his coat pocket. He shook it out, then placed it on his head. It pointed upwards like some kind of wizard’s hat. Jake then shook one of his hands at Ted. From where Carol stood at the far end of the alleyway, she thought that Jake’s hand now looked claw-like. But how could that be possible? Ted and his goons looked just as surprised as they shot forward and began attacking Jake.

  Carol cowered back into the shadows, hands to her face as she watched the alleyway suddenly light up in hues of flashing blue light. At first, she wondered if it was the light coming from the nightclub, as the exit doorway was still open. But the sparks of light seemed to coil and emanate from around Jake’s hands, which did appear to look something like claws. Then, to her continued amazement, she saw Ted floating up into the air, as wavering streams of light ensnared him somehow.

  Ted bounced off the alleyway wall, then hit the ground with a sickening thud. Everything seemed to happen in a blinding flash. Just like those who danced on the dancefloor, the alley seemed to flicker in and out of existence in the flashing lights, and so too did Jake Stranger. Carol heard screaming, and at first she wondered whether it was coming from him. Had Ted’s men managed to cut him like they had so many other men before? Carol took a tentative step out of the shadows. There was a part of her that wanted to go and help Jake, but she now wasn’t so sure that she needed to. All three of the men were now down, lying on their backs in the puddles that covered the alleyway floor.

  One of the men was screaming and holding his hand before him. In the streams of light that continued to streak from Jake Stranger’s hands, Carol thought she saw the man’s fingers melting. That had to be a trick of the light, didn’t it? She then saw Jake Stranger lean in close to all three of them in turn. He whispered something to each one before turning and heading back along the alleyway to where Carol continued to cower in the shadows.

  Jake Stranger came forward, bent double at the waist, one hand tucked inside his coat. He stepped over the men he had left lying on the ground behind him. As he drew closer still, Carol could see that his hands were no longer glowing with light. As he approached, Carol watched rain dripping from the brim of his wide and pointed hat. Jake looked at her. He could see that her once black spiky hair was now bedraggled-looking and plastered to the sides of her pale face. Carol glanced down at his hand that was pressed against his stomach. She could see his fingers were stained black with blood.

  She stepped out of the shadows. “Are you hurt?” she whispered.

  “I’ll live,” Jake said. And he knew he would. Within a matter of moments, whatever injuries he had received from fighting with the three thugs would soon heal over.

  Carol winced as she continued to stare down at the blood that trickled from the wound and over Jake’s fingers. “But you’re bleeding.”

  Instead of answering her, Jake jerked his head to one side. Both of them could now hear the sound of approaching sirens. Carol knew it wouldn’t be long before the police arrived. She knew that Jake, whoever he was—wherever he had come from, had to get far away from the alleyway and the three men before the police arrived.

  “You should get far away from here,” Jake told her.

  “
Come with me,” Carol said, offering him a hand.

  Jake shook his head. “I can’t, I need to head back… back to someplace else.”

  Carol glanced along the alleyway in the direction of where the police sirens were growing ever louder. She then looked back at Jake. “Will I ever see you again?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jake said, stepping away.

  Whoever the man was, he had saved her. Carol didn’t understand how or what the streams of blue light were that she had seen leaking from his fingers. “What did you say to those men? What were those streams of bright light I saw?”

  Jake shrugged his shoulders. “Like I said, it was magic.”

  Carol wasn’t sure she truly understood what Jake had meant. There was no such thing as magic, was there? “Whatever it was, thanks for helping me,” she said. She then took another step closer to him before kissing him gently on the mouth.

  To her surprise, he kissed her right back. Wrapping one arm about her shoulders, Jake pulled her close against him. Between them, they let their kiss grow. Their tongues entwining, the kiss grew deeper and deeper, more than she had intended. But as his lips closed over hers, she felt him breathe deeply, as if he was drawing her very soul out. And as he did so, Carol couldn’t help feel that he was cleansing her in some way. Ridding her of the poison she had learnt to crave.

  Suddenly, Jake Stranger broke their kiss and pushed her away. Carol staggered backwards. Jake turned away as if to shield himself from her. Then to her surprise, he threw his head back, mouth open wide. Watching on in awe and confusion, Carol saw what looked like a stream of black moths spew up from out of Jake’s throat and into the night. Turning to face her once more, he wiped what looked like black dust from the corners of his mouth.